The Five Critical Roles
Every Team Needs
have all five roles filled
After studying thousands of teams across decades, from executive boards to project teams, five distinct roles consistently emerge in every high-functioning group. Like vital organs in a body, each role serves a critical purpose—and balance is everything.
Director
"Someone must guide the ship and make the hard calls."
The Director is the control center—responsible for making decisions, processing information, and guiding actions. They assume a leadership role, guiding the team's direction and making important, difficult, and even unpopular decisions when needed. Without a Director, teams drift without clear purpose.
Achiever
"Stop talking and start doing—excellence is in the execution."
The Achiever is instrumental in performing tasks, skilled in detail work, and capable of manipulating tools and materials to achieve desired outcomes. They immerse themselves in the work, with a keen eye for delivering error-free results. Teams without Achievers are all talk and no action.
Stabilizer
"Structure and process turn chaos into progress."
The Stabilizer provides structure and support, keeping the team upright and balanced. Through meticulous planning, clear processes and procedures, and organized timelines, they ensure the team remains focused and on track. Without a Stabilizer, brilliant ideas scatter into entropy.
Harmonizer
"Relationships are the foundation upon which results are built."
The Harmonizer nurtures the team's emotional and social well-being. They bring collaboration and camaraderie, build relationships, and resolve conflicts before they fester. Like the heart pumping lifeblood, the Harmonizer sustains the human connections that make teamwork possible.
Trailblazer
"Convention is comfortable—innovation is transformative."
The Trailblazer provides vision and perspective, seeing beyond immediate surroundings to imagine possibilities. They bring innovation, creativity, and out-of-the-box thinking, along with the courage to challenge conventional wisdom. Without Trailblazers, teams become stagnant and obsolete.
Balance Is Everything
The configurations of ineffective teams are seemingly endless, but one commonality emerges: the worst teams have serious imbalances among the five roles—or are missing roles entirely. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy team is dysfunctional in its own way.
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